I Pick up a Lost Godhood-Chapter 82 - 80: Attraction
Hengshan Hall had suffered a devastating defeat in their hall battle against Thunderlight Hall. It was a crippling loss—not only had they hemorrhaged resources, but their prestige had plummeted. To make matters worse, they had become the laughingstock of the other Sub-Halls, causing their Senior, Tang Wei, to lose a great deal of face.
"Listen up! For this Hundred Treasures Hall Meeting, we must present our very best forged weapons. I’ve heard the Ancestral Masters might attend. If we can win the favor of Ancestor Master Lei and convince him to shift his hopes from Thunderlight Hall to us, we can claw back some of our dignity. It might even turn out to be a blessing in disguise. If anyone dares to slack off again, what happened to Suo Ming will be their fate. Do you hear me?!"
"Yes, Boss!"
Below, the several hundred disciples of Hengshan Hall let out a thunderous roar. Life had been truly miserable for them lately. Whenever their Senior was unhappy, he would put them through grueling drills, each session more agonizing than the last.
In an effort to recoup their losses, Hengshan Hall had taken on several dangerous missions in a row, resulting in one death and two injuries. Such casualties during missions were a rare occurrence for Hengshan Hall in recent years.
Tang Wei was teaching the disciples of Hengshan Hall a lesson: Hengshan Hall held no inherent advantage over anyone else. To put it bluntly, they were no different from Thunderlight Hall. The reason Hengshan Hall had achieved its current standing was simple—they were more ruthless than anyone. Ruthless to their enemies, and ruthless to themselves!
As for this debt, Hengshan Hall was determined to settle the score!
Flying Phoenix Hall, by contrast, wasn’t under nearly as much pressure. Like Dao Guang Hall, they would have their outstanding disciples display their strength to maintain a certain standard, but they didn’t feel the same intense pressure as Dao Guang Hall.
As for popularity, they had nothing to worry about. No other hall could compare to Flying Phoenix Hall.
Beauty is a weapon in itself.
"Who do you guys think is worthy of our Senior Sister?"
"I think Senior Brother Ning Zhiquan is the best match. Only the top expert of the younger generation is worthy of the top beauty. A hero for our beauty!"
"Not necessarily the top expert. I think Li Tianyi is so handsome! He has this roguish air about him. And I think he’s way cuter!"
"You little hussy, getting all hot and bothered. Thinking about that pretty boy, are we!"
"What are you talking about? I’m just speaking objectively. Besides, we were talking about our Senior Sister."
"I think our Senior Sister is interested in Li Tianyi. Why else would she be asking about him? I haven’t seen her pay that much attention to Brother Ning."
"By that logic... our Senior Sister also asked about Thunderlight Hall. Don’t tell me she’s interested in someone from there?"
At that, the group of girls burst out laughing.
It was only normal for everyone to gossip. Yang Ying had never taken a partner, though she certainly had no shortage of suitors. Basically, every man who was even remotely qualified was pursuing her.
But Yang Ying seemed uninterested in any of them. Gazing at her own infuriatingly beautiful face in the mirror, she sighed softly. ’Any man who lays eyes on me only ever sees my face, as if that’s all I am.’
’Sometimes I really wish I wasn’t so beautiful.’ She had recently taken an interest in two people: Li Tianyi and Wang Meng. It wasn’t romantic; she was simply intrigued by their respective abilities.
She was especially curious about Wang Meng. His footwork was not what Li Tianyi had described, but something far stranger and more unique. She called it ’strange’ because she felt it wasn’t a set technique at all, but rather something he executed with complete spontaneity.
’If that’s true, just how terrifying is he?’
Yang Ying’s invitation had been genuine, yet he had actually refused. Surprisingly, she wasn’t angry. The fact that he hadn’t accepted simply because of her beauty actually made her feel a bit relieved.
Male disciples tried all sorts of methods to get her attention, including playing hard to get, but such petty tricks only made her more impatient.
Suddenly, an idea struck Yang Ying. ’Since I want to get to know this strange Senior Brother Wang, why not just pay a visit to Thunderlight Hall?’ There was no time like the present.
ACHOO! ACHOO! ACHOO! Wang Meng sneezed, casually wiped his nose, and shook his head. ’What is with me today? Don’t tell me the heavens are planning to use a Snot Tribulation to interfere with my cultivation?’
All the halls were actively preparing for the Hundred Treasures Hall Meeting. It was confirmed that all nine Sub-Halls would participate. So far, two Ancestral Masters had announced they would be observing the event: Alchemy Ancestor Master Zhou Luodan and Technique Cultivation Ancestor Wu Fatian. The attendance of other Ancestral Masters was still to be determined.
This news greatly energized Immortal Origin Hall and Lingyin Hall. Zhou Luodan hailed from Immortal Origin Hall, having brought it boundless glory in his time, though he was not one of the currently presiding Ancestral Masters. Wu Fatian, meanwhile, was the pride of Lingyin Hall. Lingyin Hall was renowned for its Talismans, a point of divergence from their Ancestral Master. Wu Fatian had a fitting nickname, "Lawless," a pun on his name, and was a notorious troublemaker back in his disciple days. Strangely enough, this boisterous Ancestral Master had raised a flock of obedient disciples, a fact that often left Wu Fatian at a loss for whether to laugh or cry. Nevertheless, Lingyin Hall had always made him proud and never shamed his name.
He was attending the Hundred Treasures Hall Meeting this time partly to provoke that old fellow, Thunderbolt, and see if he’d even have the face to show up!
When it came to disciples, Thunderbolt couldn’t even eat his dust!
Meanwhile, Thunderbolt was in seclusion. This was partly to consolidate his recent gains, and partly because it was a case of "out of sight, out of mind." Thunderlight Hall was truly a sore spot for him.
Thunderlight Hall was lively. In fact, it was exceptionally lively. The disciples’ enthusiasm far surpassed that of the other Sub-Halls, it was just that no one was paying them any attention.
But they were paying attention to themselves. The rate at which Thunderlight Hall took on missions had skyrocketed. Although their failure rate was high, their drive was unstoppable.
A mission that other halls could complete with four or five people might require more than ten from Thunderlight Hall. After splitting the reward, there wasn’t much left for anyone. Yet, everyone was still willing to do it. Before, they took missions for the rewards; now, they did it for the sake of improvement.
Zhou Feng would have loved to see Wang Meng’s current state. At his core, Wang Meng was an incredibly persistent person. Especially when Alchemy became a necessity, his drive to experiment was fiercer than anyone’s. Of course, the expenses were also terrifying. At first, he mainly practiced with some of Thunderlight Hall’s Pill Formulas. Later, he went through all the neutral Pill Formulas he knew how to concoct. He was supposedly a Sword Cultivator, but he was acting more like a Pill Cultivator than actual Pill Cultivators.
He had refined quite a few Pills, though Wang Meng himself didn’t actually know how effective they were. His Pill Flame, however, had reached the Fourth Grade. When Wang Meng finally realized his Pill Flame was at the Fourth Grade, he himself was stunned for a moment.
When one becomes too focused, such details tend to go unnoticed. For someone with Wang Meng’s current level of Elemental Power to achieve a Fourth Grade Pill Flame in such a short time was an absolute miracle. But Wang Meng didn’t pay it much mind. A Fourth Grade Pill Flame meant he could now refine the Thousand-year-old Wumu Essence. However, he decided to be cautious. It would be better to borrow Zhou Feng’s Pill Furnace. This Wumu Essence was hard to come by, and finding another Five Elements Essence of its kind would be extremely difficult given his current circumstances. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎
He touched his face and was surprised to find so much stubble had grown. He had practically been eating and sleeping in the Alchemy Room this whole time. With Chen Haiguan looking out for him, no one had disturbed him. The time had really flown by.
He gathered and packed up all the Pills. Wang Meng couldn’t guarantee their effects, but he was certain they were all successfully refined.
"Hundred Treasures Hall Meeting, everyone participates!" That was Thunderlight Hall’s slogan. Wang Meng, of course, had to go support Hu Jing and the others. Without even bothering to shave, he headed straight for the Thunderlight Pavilion.
Normally, whenever he showed up, the first person to rush out would undoubtedly be Ma Tian’Er. But this time, Ma Tian’Er was too slow. Someone else was faster.
